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Last Friday, the Federal government banned the use of Twitter in Nigeria. They also directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to commence the licensing of all over the top media and social media operations in the country.

According to the statement made on Twitter, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, blamed the ban on ‘the persistent use of Twitter for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence.’

Here’s what transpired: On the first of June 2021, the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, made a tweet to address some issues in the county. In the controversial thread, he cited the Nigerian Civil War and also stated that certain people misbehaving will be dealt with “in a language they understand.”

This tweet caused outrage, with many people calling for the removal of the tweet. Twitter later found the tweet wanting for violation of its terms of use and removed it from its platform. The Nigerian government then retaliated by banning Twitter in the country.

What does this mean for Nigerians?

In today's newsletter, we will be looking at the following news items:

• Chipper Cash unicorn status
• Huawei has launched HarmonyOS to compete with Android and iOS
• TalentQL launches Pipeline to grow more senior African developers

Chipper Cash becomes sixth African Unicorn

Ugandan fintech company, Chipper Cash, is Africa’s latest unicorn.

The three-year-old company recently raised $100 million in its latest Series C round led by SVB Capital and others, bringing its total raise to $152.2 million. It now joins the likes of Flutterwave and Interswitch to bear the unicorn flag.

The company plans to leverage its funding to begin bitcoin operations and offer US stock to Nigerians, Ugandans, and other countries.

They plan to do more.

Chipper Cash’s fund raise

Huawei unveils HarmonyOS

Chinese tech company, Huawei, has unveiled devices that will run on its in-house operating system, HarmonyOS. The devices are MatePad pro, MatePad, and the Watch 3.

Huawei started building its operating system after a trade ban that barred it from accessing technology services from the US in 2019. With HarmonyOS, the tech company will challenge the market share of Apple and Android as its devices continue to play in the smartphone market.

The OS’s app store is called App Gallery. It is also an open-source system that will allow developers to provide apps for the platform.

Huawei’s operating system.

TalentQL launches Pipeline to train African software engineers

Outsourcing and incubator company, TalentQL has launched Pipeline by TalentQL to train software engineers in Africa.

Pipeline aligns with TalentQL’s plans to democratize and decentralize opportunities for African Tech Talents. The program will last for 6 months, and it is targeted at mid-level software engineers at no initial cost.

It will be fully remote and will also run a peer-to-peer learning format. Pipeline is open to Software Developers with at least three years’ work experience in Africa.

TalentQL’s Pipeline

💰Fundraising

Here are some of the recent startup fundraises across Africa that you should be aware of:

• Egyptian agritech company, Mozare3 secures undisclosed funding.
• Egyptian e-learning platform, Almentor secures $6.5 million in funding.
• South African, biotech startup, LifeQ secures $47 million Series A funding.
• Egyptian e-commerce platform, zVendo secures undisclosed pre-Series funding.
• Kenyan restaurant inventory platform, Kidbanda TopUp secures $450,000 pre-seed funding.

Tip: If you're looking to improve your take-home (salary) by moving jobs, companies that have just raised are a great place to apply. Companies almost always hire after a significant raise.

📰 Things we found interesting

Here are some of the most exciting stories we've written and read over the last seven days:

• How open banking will shape fintech in Africa.
  
• The new CBN fintech regulation in Nigeria.
  
• How Nigeria’s digital sector will create 3 million jobs by 2027.
  
• All you need to know about CBN’s digital currency.
  
• Shedrack Akintayo’s Under The Hoodie interview.
  
• A comparison of the top four logistics apps in Nigeria.

Job Opportunities🚪

In addition to last week's list of jobs, events, and other  opportunities, check these out, too:

• Kuda is hiring a frontend engineer.
  
• Bolt Nigeria is hiring a partner operations manager.
  
• Softcom is hiring a software engineer, backend, and frontend developer.
  
• Visa is hiring a senior sales engineer.
  
• Bundle Africa is hiring a QA automation engineer.
  
• Emergency Response Africa is hiring a mobile developer.
  

Thanks for reading

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• Share this newsletter with someone curious about tech in Africa
• Turn on tweet notifications on our page, to stay tuned for the Under The Hoodie series every Tuesday by 8 am.

Regards,
Marvisclara.